Various advocacy groups continue pushing for additional funding as lawmakers try to figure out how much extra money they have to spend next year. The legislature’s Appropriations Committee decided last Thursday not to revisit the current two-year, $51 billion budget. That means no changes in spending for the second fiscal year of the budget. Lawmakers are confident they’ll be able to address various needs in other ways, including unspent American Rescue Plan Act funding and surpluses within the budget. They’re just not sure how much money that is. “Well that’s one of the big unanswered questions, we don’t have a hard and fast number yet,” Sen. Martin Looney (D-President Pro Tempore) said.
